In todays results driven world, survival and success are guaranteed to the fittest. We are in an era where success of an organization is increasingly dependent on people and their skills. So how do we as senior managers stay competitive in this environment when the bars to excellence are continuously rising? Analoui (1990) suggests that for a manager to be successful, he should place a great deal of importance on the assessment and development of his own potential. Hill (2003) says, “The best managers are those who have an appetite for learning and are willing to work on themselves “.
1.2 Self-Awareness and its importance
The first step towards self-development is being able to identify the areas that require development. Maslow (1970) indicates that all individuals have an inherent need for personal growth, which comes through the process called self-actualization. Self-awareness is all about how an individual is able to perceive his thoughts, behaviors and actions to affect himself and the people around him. Legrain, Cleeremans and Destrebecqz (2010) suggest that self-awareness permits one to be the subject of one’s own attention. Goleman, Boyatzis, McKee (2002) define self-awareness as “having a deep understanding of one’s emotions, as well as one’s strengths and limitations and one’s values and motives”.
Goleman (1995) states that self-awareness is key to social and emotional competence and identifies self-awareness to be the heart of emotional intelligence. As managers we face the task of managing and interacting with different kinds of people on a professional and social level. High emotional intelligence promotes better understanding of our emotions and helps us have control over our emotions especially in testing con...
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The sense of being aware of yourself as an individual is called ‘Self Understanding’ A sense of self is not achieved in a single step…it develops gradually throughout your life.
The theory of emotional intelligence is relatively new, however the psychological theory has become prevalent and many entities have adapted the principles of this theory in order to enhance relations within the professional environment as well as increase performance which ultimately lead to a positive place of work. (Allan Chapman 2014)
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"To be self aware is to be conscious of one's character, including beliefs, values, qualities, strengths and limitation. It is about knowing oneself" (Burnard 1992).
By reflecting on this and as I continue throughout my career, I concur with LTC Sewell’s article on self-awareness. As I continue to “understand, refine and often redefine” myself and improve articulating who I am to others, my aim is to improve myself, for the current and future organizations that may have the opportunity to be affiliated.
My Self Awareness score is an 85, which means that while I am slightly above average, there is plenty of room for development. I have a clear understanding of what I do well, what motives and satisfies me, as well as which people and situations push my buttons. (Goleman 2002, p. 25) Yet, there are times still seem to let my emotions take control of my actions. I am still discovering the balance that will allow me to recognize those emotions, accept them, and reflect upon them later and not to discourage me.
(2013) separated emotional intelligence into four domains, self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management (pp. 30, 38). These domains are then broken into two competencies. Self-awareness, the understanding of one 's emotions and being clear about one 's purpose, and self-management, the focused drive and emotional self-control, make up the personal competence (pp. 39, 45-46). While social awareness, or empathy and service, and relationship management, the handling of other people 's emotions, make up the social competence (pp. 39, 48, 51). These emotional intelligence competencies are not innate talents, but learned abilities, each of which contribute to making leaders more resonant and effective (p. 38). This is good news for me because I still have much to develop in regards to emotional
An individual’s ability to control and express their emotions is just as important as his/her ability to respond, understand, and interpret the emotions of others. The ability to do both of these things is emotional intelligence, which, it has been argued, is just as important if not more important than IQ (Cassady & Eissa, 2011). Emotional intelligence refers to one’s ability to perceive emotions, control them, and evaluate them. While some psychologists argue that it is innate, others claim that it is possible to learn and strengthen it. Academically, it has been referred to as social intelligence sub-set. This involves an individual’s ability to monitor their emotions and feelings, as well as those of others, and to differentiate them in a manner that allows the individuals to integrate them in their actions and thoughts (Cassady & Eissa, 2011).
In order to understand how one perceives situations and how they can determine the way one communicates; we first must understand the value of self-concept. Self is easily defined; it is one's beliefs, attitudes, feelings and values. It is who one is and what one stands for. Self-concept, is a relevantly stable set of perceptions and emotional states. It is the way one sees and understands oneself, and contributes to how one perceives oneself and perceives situations. One's self-concept may alter their perception, and either enhance or impede one's communication effectiveness. The way one sees oneself can influence the way they see their social surroundings. Only after one become aware of oneself can they be aware of their physical and social surroundings, which will allow one to perceive situations and people with a truer idea and create a more positive outcome.
As we reviewed the self awareness module this past week it was very interesting to see how the self assessments provided the class information about their own personal human behaviors. I was aware of most of the information provided but there were some tendencies I was surprised to find fitted my character. It was good to be reminded of the things I had forgotten about myself. Learning about my individuality and how I interact and respond to others based on my traits, personality and behavior has been an awakening experience. It is also great to know that I can work on areas that need improvement to become a more balance person to better assist my subordinates, teams and organizations.
To have a deepened self-awareness, it allows us to work well with others, and can include
I realised that self-awareness is important in achieving self-improvement. The more an individual understands themselves, the better he or she is at adapting life changes that is according to their needs. The more self-aware we are, it improves the level of confidence we have on oneselves. This can be achieved through greater exposure, thus widens one’s experiences and will be more likely be more accepting of others. Self-awareness will also benefit us to be more accurate in accessing
Self-awareness is not about reading a book or attending a course. Self-awareness is a journey, and it takes practice. It’s like a muscle that becomes more effective with time and effort. It gives us mental strength as opposed to physical strength. We are constantly changing and adapting to the multiple external forces around us and to our individual experiences. The more we learn to be aware of, and understand, our reactions, thoughts, and emotions, while also keeping in mind our values, the more we can become the best we can be and the more successful we can become.
Personal Development is a lifelong process that involves the assessment of current skills and talents and the enhancement of oneself based on that assessment which then leads to the realization of goals and an improved quality of life. To be able to assess yourself, you need to be able to reflect on your past which helps you to understand the attitudes you have developed and the foundation that you will be building your life on. Also, you have to reflect on your present to see if there’s room for improvement and reflect on your future so that you can achieve your aspirations.
The need to continually improve ourselves is basic to all human beings. Self-development allows us to reach our true and fullest potential. Through self-development we become better able to understand ourselves, others, the world around us and to make positive changes in that world.